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Table 25 General government total outlaysTable 26 General government current tax and non-tax receiptsTable 27 General government financial balancesTable 28 General government cyclically-adjusted balancesTable 29 General government underlying balancesTable 30 General government underlying primary balancesTable 31 General government net debt interest paymentsTable 32 General government gross financial liabilitiesTable 33 General government net financial liabilities

Annex Table 25 - General government total outlays

Definition: The figures for total outlays consist of current outlays plus capital outlays. Current outlays are the sum of current consumption, transfer payments, subsidies and property income paid (including interest payments). Data refer to the general government sector, which is a consolidation of accounts for the central, state and local government plus social security. One-off revenues from the sale of the third generation mobile telephone (often called Universal Mobile Telephone System) licenses are recorded as negative capital outlays. The general treatment of large one-off fiscal items in the national accounts and the OECD Economic Outlook database is described in Joumard , I., M. Minegishi, C. André, C. Nicq and R. Price (2008), Accounting for one-off operations when assessing underlying fiscal positions.Sources: National accounts

Definition: Tax receipts of the government sector are defined as the sum of direct taxes on household and business sectors, indirect taxes and social security contributions. Non-tax receipts include operating surpluses, property income, user charges and fees, other current and capital transfers received by the general government. Data refer to the general government sector, which is a consolidation of accounts for the central, state and local government plus social security.Note: Revenue/GDP-ratios based on the national accounts methodology used are not fully comparable with those found in the OECD's Revenue Statistics which diverge from national accounts in a number of areas. For further details see Frequently Asked Questions.

Definition: Government net lending is general government current tax and non-tax receipts less general government total outlays. See notes to Annex Tables 25 and 26. The ESA95 definition of net lending differs from the Maastricht definition in that it does not include streams of payments and receipts from swap agreements and forward rate agreements, as these are recorded as financial transactions rather than interest expenditure.Sources: National AccountsRelated links: National Accounts , The 1993 System of National Accounts, Glossary

Exceptionally, estimates for Norway exclude net revenues from petroleum activities and are expressed as a percentage of mainland GDP; but do not make adjustments for certain other transactions which are used by the Norwegian authorities in their estimates of underlying balances.

Definition: Gross financial liabilities are defined as the debt and other liabilities (short and long-term) of all the institutions in the general government sector, defined by ESA95/SNA93, subject to data availability. For the United States, Flow of Funds estimates are used, which value debt at face value. The gross data are consolidated within and between the sub-sectors of the general government sector, national sources permitting.

Definition: Net financial liabilities are defined as the gross financial liabilities of the general government sector less the financial assets of the general government sector. Such assets may be cash, bank deposits, loans to the private sector, participation in private sector companies, holdings in public corporations or foreign exchange reserves, depending on the institutional structure of the country concerned and data availability. The status and treatment of government liabilities in respect of their employee pension plans in the national accounts have been diverse across countries, making international comparability of government debts difficult. The current interpretation of the 1993 SNA is that: i) "autonomous" funded pension plans should be classified outside the general government sector, which entails that their assets and liabilities are not reflected in the general government debt data; ii) non-autonomous pension plans should be classified inside the general government sector and only the funded component should be reflected in the general government liabilities. Furthermore, the 1993 SNA recommends that the liability inherent in unfunded schemes be recorded as a memorandum item for the government sector. However, while some countries have produced some estimates of these implicit liabilities, few follow the 1993 SNA recommendation. For individual country notes see Economic Outlook Statistical Sources file.Sources: National AccountsRelated links: Maastricht definition of general government gross public debt (Annex Table 62)Last updated: December 2011